QueenC

Silly question. but will The Age stay on the shorts?

Well we're not exactly blowing the doors off the place now either..... I agree with Rhino, anything over 30 000 and we will be having a pretty good day.

So good news all round then Hankook...... And thanks for all your info over the last few weeks it has been and will continue to be greatly appreciated!!!

Cheers '84........ Hopefully a kind soul will be able to give us a run down of what is said. Again I apologise for being inter-state !!!

Fantastic news to wake up to....... And I will join the chorus of folk in congratulating Jim, Cameron and all those involved in signing this deal. Not to mention Andrew Mamonitis, who did what all members want to be able to do, and that is to help secure the future of our beloved club any way they can. It has been a long time since we have been able to look into the future positively, but hopefully now we can. Well done to everyone on a very successful (and relatively lucrative) announcement!!!

Thanks Dee Man, I did enjoy the read..... And I hope you will enjoy your trip to Africa!!!

Beat me to it Jarka...... Please tell me this isn't a surprise to anyone? This is our current reality, and its not a big secret!!!

Money !!!

Melbourne Demons rising star Jack Grimes out for a month

Yeah that lot did seem to be a little ordinary for supposedly being the best of the best !!!

Well that goes without saying !!!

Do you know what exactly Schwab did or didn't know? And if our deal was undercut but the Bulldogs what would you have us do? Undercut ourselves even more to get said deal? Because from where I sit that probably would have ended in you being enormously critical of the administration anyway. It seems to have been forgotten in all this wrangling that the potential sponsors hold the cards and the money and therefore they can make any decision they chose. And it really won't matter what we do or how good our current administration is, because at the end of the day it is their choice, and they know we (and other clubs) are a little desperate for their sponsorship. Is this deal the best? Maybe, maybe not, but it could well be the best we could get (and we should still be thrilled that we got it) at this particular junction in our rehab. And for you to ponder hazy, not agreeing with the current board does not make what is going on there wrong, and while you criticise others in here fore being (too) optimistic, that is not a crime, nor is pessimism, but if you want people to see things from your opinion, you really should have the ability to see things from the other side as well. You talk about your first post being positive, great, but since then it has been an endless stream of negativity against the current administration. That is your right (and it good to have differing opinions it is what makes sites like this work), but while this may not fulfil your criteria for a "good deal" it is what it is, and it is most definitely a huge step in the right direction. And hopefully it is only the first step.

I'll second that, cheers Jack !!!

Well I think I could well be the only woman to weigh in on the money side of things..... I actually don't think that in a Grand Slam the women's events and the men's events should be the same prize money. And this isn't because I am some crazy anti-feminist lunatic selling out the sisterhood, but because it isn't about how good the matches were, because if that was the case between the 08 Wimbledon final, the 09 Aussie semi and final Nadal would be paid more than anyone else (which he is cause he is winning but that is not about the quality of the matches). My reasoning as to why the women's events in the Grand Slams (only) should be paid less is simply because they play less. The men's events are best of five, women's are best of three. It has nothing to do with how potentially good those matches may or may not be, even if the women's goes the distance, then it isn't any more than a straight sets men's win. I always believe in equal pay for equal work (it should be a basic right), but this works both ways. However this should only apply to the Grand Slams because all the other tournaments men play (bar Davis Cup) are only best of three and therefore prize money should be as equal as the individual tournaments can get it for both men's and women's events. The problem with the argument is that right now the men's events are selling a hell of a lot better than the women's events, and this is largely because of the two sitting at the top of the tree, and the string of performances (excluding Paris) they have put on over the last couple of years, some of which will go down in history as arguably the best ever. As for the matches at the Open, both were amazing. I will readily admit to being a Rafa fan. I find his strength, heart, skill and continual improvement to be amazing, I also respect the way he conducts himself off the court. He is a class act, and he has Federer's number. He has now beaten him on the three surfaces of the Slams and that is enormous. The Verdasco match was monumental in just about everything. Verdasco played out of his skin. I have never seen him play like that before (& I follow the game closely) and I hope that he keeps it up. I'm not sure about being number one as I don't think it gets any better for him than that night and he still lost, but he should be a consistent top five or ten player for a long while now. The final was an odd match, both played some genuinely amazing shots but it was not the best I have seen skill wise, which surprised me particularly from Federer who, had a great chance to right his name in the record books, but as wonderful a player as he is, he seems to have a black hole in regards to being able to counter what Rafa throws at him, especially the high ball on his backhand, but is a little more understandable from Nadal given the lengths he had to go to get into the thing, and the 24hrs less he had to prepare, but I guess that is a testament to how much of a fighter he is. Honestly if I needed someone to play for my life Rafael Nadal would most definitely be it!!!

Honestly, back up the pair of you.

Cameron Bruce, Colin Garland, Stefan Martin, Matthew Whelan and Austin Wonaeamirri.

Three to four wins is fine with me for this season as the draft picks are still very important for our future...... Personally though it comes down to competitiveness and attitude, both of which were severely lacking for many matches last year. Improvement to come, skills etc are important, but I can handle the losses as long as I see them at least pushing for the win. This didn't happen too regularly last year and we were blown off the ground on way too many occasions. This needs to stop, we need to be "competitive". We should be able to see improvement no matter how many wins they put on the board.

Urrgh you are just a broken record

Yeah but that has only just come about...... The NRL Footy Show has been appalling for years. It has been hitting a pretty consistent low for many years, when on average out of a two hour idiot-a-thon only about ten minutes was dedicated to actual league. There has been very serious talks at Channel 9 about cancellation with the ratings taking a massive hit over the last five years or so. In contrast the AFL alternative was vastly superior, it actually talked about the sport it is meant to talk about, with Newman being the only idiot (up here we had four or more with no footballers present), but that seems to have changed. The NRL show was excellent on Thursday night, it has improved massively and that surprised me unbelievably. I am glad I actually watched it and only did to hear about the ongoing Brett Stewart saga and was extremely pleasantly surprised. But this had to happen, it had to start taking the sport a little more seriously instead of constantly dressing in drag, or it was going to be given the boot. But it is a shame that the AFL show is falling down the same way now.

Yeah I don't think we need a thread pointing at you Hazy, so if you or anyone else wants to keep this quibble going please take it off the board......please.

Enough with the finger pointing please....... Congrats to the powers that be within the admin of the club (Schwab etc) to get this done. And well done and thanks to the people at Hankook for coming on board. This is a good day for the club and should be celebrated, so lets just do that shall we.

The unfortunate reality is that this does not come as much of a surprise..... Is it disappointing? Of course (yet again), but I do like the way our leadership group has handled it. We can only hope that this is it for him with this again (although that might be folly) and despite this small infraction he will put his best foot forward. But who the hell knows with him at this point?!!!

Well it could go either way here really, but Sydney should probably win !!! And great post Distance, it is nice to come back in here and read a common sense post about our reality and Bailey's unwavering reactions. Well done.

Probably the problem !!!

Well if that happens YM then a lot of folk will be more than happy to eat their words...... But seriously he was ordinary today both in skill and attitude, and if your prediction is to come to fruition then a hell of a lot is going to have to change. Personally I'd like you to be proved right (could make the team stronger), but I am certainly not going to hold my breath!!!